When an item is not set to be revalued the following happens.
Scenario A with Non Revalued Item:
- Item Purchased and Received into stock at $500.
- Some of the item is subsequently sold
- Item is Invoiced through purchasing at different unit cost say $550.
End Result for Scenario A of Non Revalued Item:
- GL Updated with Inventory value of $500 from the Purchase Receipt
- GL reduced with the Inventory and Cost of sale based on the purchase receipt i.e. $500.
- Sub-ledger reflects the purchase receipt cost i.e. $500.
- Invoice difference is reflected in the purchase price variance account. This does not affect inventory sub-ledger as the cost remains the receipted cost and the inventory account matches this value in the sub-ledger as the difference is posted to the purchase price variance account instead of inventory.
- In the end the sub-ledger and GL balances but at the Receipt Cost.
When an item is set to be revalued the following happens.
Scenario B with Revalued Item
- Item Purchase and Received into stock at $500
- Some of the item is subsequently sold
- Item is Invoiced through purchasing at different unit cost say $550.
End Result for Scenario B with Revalued Item
- GL Updated with Inventory value of $500 from the Purchase Receipt
- GL reduced with the Inventory and Cost of sale based on the purchase receipt i.e. $500.
- Sub-ledger reflects the purchase receipt cost i.e. $500.
- Purchase Invoice difference Debits the Inventory sub-ledger for the $50 as well as the GL (instead of the purchase price variance account used in Scenario A).
- The system automatically creates a journal to update the cost of sale and inventory where sales transactions were posted from this receipt layer.
- In the end the sub-ledger and the GL balances but at the Invoice Cost.
In the end it is all dependent on what you want to see in your General Ledger.